Joseph went shopping with his three bi-racial daughters at a Woodbridge, Virginia, Walmart and was mistaken for their possible abductor.

Have you ever been shopping and noticed children walking with someone that it seems they shouldn’t be?  For instance, an adult that is a different race than the child? Well, with all of the abductions we’ve seen lately, it seems that folks are taking Charles Ramsey’s advice and being proactive.  Getting some “cajones!”

It definitely takes cajones to walk up to a man with his daughters and ask him what he’s doing with them.  A Woodbridge, Virginia, Walmart sent police officers after Joseph, a white man that had been shopping with his three biracial daughters.  His wife, Keana, is black woman who was outraged once police showed up on their doorstep asking questions about why Joseph was with the girls, according to Fox 5 D.C.

Joseph and Keana are parents of three daughters that a Walmart customer thought were being abducted…by their dad.

She said that a customer told Walmart security that they “Didn’t fit!”

“Well, the customer was concerned because they saw the children with your husband and he didn’t think that they fit,” Keana told the news station. “And I said, ‘What do you mean by they don’t fit?’ And I was trying to get her to say it. And she says, ‘Well, they just don’t match up.’”

The couple said they will never shop in Walmart again.

Check out their story.  Do you think it was right for the customer to alert authorities to Joseph and his daughters? Would you have done the same?

-J.C. Brooks

DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

Earlier this month, a man tried to rob a woman for her cell phone in Bogata, Colombia.

Criminals used to go after purses and were even labeled purse snatchers.  But now, the purses better be quite valuable to get their attention because now they’re after your phone.

Bus riders at a Colombia, Bogata bus terminal were witness to a cell phone snatching gone wrong. The guy thought he was being smooth and stealth, but he was quite awkward and clumsy. He went into a tug-of-war with the woman before trying to make a run for it…an awful run for it.

The robber went running smack into a bus that was pulling into the station and even the woman he was trying to rob tried to help him.  Amazing!  But, the even more shocking part of the story is that he escaped, what look like a fatal accident, with only minor injuries.

Watch for yourself!

-J.C. Brooks

Same sex discrimination can pop up anywhere among any age group for any reason and now it’s popped up in an unlikely situation in a high school.

Kaitlyn Hunt has been forced out of Sebastian River High School after having a same sex relationship with another teenage girl that was under age.  Hunt is 18, and her girlfriend is 15, which left Hunt facing two felony counts of “lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12 to 16,” according to the Huffington Post.

The family of the 15-year-old pressed the issue and tried to have Hunt, who is a senior, expelled.But a judge ordered that she could continue at the school as long as there was “no contact” between the two.  The 15-year-old’s family was not happy with that and was able to petition the school board and have Hunt removed just weeks before graduation.

The relationship was consensual according to Kaitlyn’s mother, Kelley Hunt-Smith.  She wrote in a statement posted to Facebook:

“…They were out to destroy my daughter. [They] feel like my daughter ‘made’ their daughter gay.”

Hunt-Smith did not take her daughter’s expulsion lightly and has started a petition through Change.org that urges the Indian River County State Attorney’s Office to stop her daughter from being prosecuted.  The petition has garnered nearly 150,00 signatures.  What do you think?  Do you think she should be prosecuted for statutory rape or are they calling it statutory gay influence?  As of yesterday, the charges are not being dropped.  Prosecutors do not care about the public outrcry, according to CBS.  Read more here.

-J.C. Brooks 

Joshua Hardy gleams with pride and happiness as he remembers his 9-year-old daughter Jenae Hornsby, who was killed in the tornadoes in Moore, Oklahoma, Monday, May 21, 2013.

Tornadoes in Oklahoma are a normal occurrence, but the tornadoes that struck Monday night were something out of a horrible action movie…nothing natural about it.

The 2-mile wide cypher snatched up everything in its path and left behind a path of destruction never seen before in a natural disaster in U.S. history.  The tornado leveled two schools and nearly wiped out the town of Moore, Oklahoma.  The worst of the devastation are the nine children that were lost. One of the first children to be declared dead was Jenae Hornsby, who died in Plaza Towers Elementary School, according to CNN.

Her dad, Joshua, had been waiting to hear that his daughter had been found and he could come and pick her up, but the news he received was that she was gone.  Anderson Cooper interviewed him and it was clear that the energy of his daughter is still very present in his heart. His face lit up with a glowing smile when Cooper asked about his daughter.

“She was the best kid anybody could have.”

Jenae Hornsby, 9, was a student at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma, where she lost her life when a massive tornado touched down Monday.

He also said he’s still hoping he gets the call that “it was a mistake,” but in the meantime, he has to deal with it as it is.

“Life is not fair. You just gotta take what life gives you. You know what I mean? I can sit and dwell on it and, you know, let it ruin me or I can, you know, make my baby proud and keep pushin’ on.”

Our hearts go out to the Hornsby family and all the families of the victims of this tragic event. Watch the interview with Joshua Hornsby as he remembers his daughter, Jenae Hornsby.

-J.C. Brooks

Andre Young, also known as Dr. Dre, is giving $35 million to USC for new program.

College can be a life-changing experience for a young person, especially when they have a program that fits their  passion.

Andre Young, also known as the hip-hop master producer Dr. Dre, has pledged $35 million of his own money in  a $70 million collaboration with producer and co-founder of Interscope records Jimmy Iovine to begin a program in his and Jimmy Iovine’s name at the University of Southern California.  The Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation will launch in the Fall of 2014 with 25 students, according to the Los Angeles Times.

But, Dr.  Dre’s contribution to the school has come under scrutiny because he has not pledged his money to a black school or historically black college and/or university where that kind of money would completely revive some institutions and make a complete transformation of others.  USC is around the corner and down the street from his humble beginnings in Compton, California, where he successfully launched himself into the Hip-Hop stratosphere through the rap group NWA.

Dre told the New York Times:

“I feel like this is the biggest, most exciting and probably the most important thing that I’ve done in my career.”

The program is a dream come true for anyone wanting to pursue a career in ANY area of production.  ”The four-year undergraduate program aims to foster entrepreneurship and bridge entertainment, engineering, computer science, fine arts, graphic design, business and leadership training.”

But now, something that he feels so passionate about is being tarnished by criticism of his donation to a school that as of Fall 2012, black students only made up five percent of its student body.  Walter Kimbrough is  one of the youngest college presidents in the country at Dillard University, and is often referred to as the “hip hop President.”

He stopped in his tracks when he saw that Dr. Dre was donating the largest contribution of any African American to any school in the country.  Not even Bill and Camille Cosby have given such a significant amount of money to one school.  So, why is it that Kimbrough finds it necessary to express his concern.

“USC is a great institution, no question. But it has a $3.5-billion endowment, the 21st largest in the nation and much more than every black college — combined. Less than 20% of USC’s student body qualifies for federal Pell Grants, given to students from low-income families, compared with two-thirds of those enrolled at black colleges. USC has also seen a steady decrease in black student enrollment, which is now below 5%.”

While those numbers all make sense, should we hold our feet to the fire on decisions like this one? Should we be obligated to connect with the HBCU’s whether we’re alumni of the schools or not?  Jimmy Iovine’s daughter is an alum of USC, so there’s a connection for him and he was their keynote speaker for this year’s graduation.  Kimbrough went on to say:

“I hope this groundbreaking gift inspires other celebrities and musical artists to make similar donations to higher education. And that they will consider doing it in a manner that will be truly transformative. This gift is gravy for USC; for a black college, it would transform not just individuals but whole institutions and communities.”

It is our hope that Dre will do his part to recruit black students for the program that is in an area near and dear to his heart.  We would love to hear what he has to say about his personal reasoning behind his donation.  But what’s ironic about Kimbrough’s statements is that he has never attended an HBCU himself.  While his editorial gives great insight into his criticism of Dre’s choice,  it’s ironic that he never chose to be educated at an HBCU. He received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate at University of Georgia, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and Georgia State University, respectively.  Go figure.

Read more here.

-J.C. Brooks

Little Mr. ‘Whoop Yo Own Ass!’

Let’s start off by saying, these children today need their little rusty butts beat more often.  They are cussin’ and fussin’ their way into everything their little hearts desire and it has to stop.

For some reason World Star Hip Hop always are able to find a bad little kid that’s been videotaped having a good ol’ time cussin’ and having his say.  Well, we’ve found yet another that isn’t that bad, but had a little bit of a potty mouth and had some sort of toy addiction.

Well the little man was negotiating with his mother about why she shouldn’t beat his butt and that his toy addiction was of no fault of his own.

“God made me this way!”

What? Then he tells his mother:

“Don’t whoop me !Don’t whoop me! I know who you need to whoop.  Whoop yo own ass.”

Wow!  I just want to find out what school he goes to.  He’s a bad influence on the rest of the little toy addicts.  Check out the adorable little fella. (wink!)

-J.C. Brooks

Anthony Cymerys, known as “Joe the Barber”, has been providing free haircuts to the homeless of Hartford, Connectict, for 25 years.

Don’t you wish that the good people from the neighborhood would get the attention of Fox, CBS, CNN, or any major media outlet? The good stories always seem to fall by the wayside…until now.

Filmmaker J.V. Harvey has taken it upon himself to profile the good samaritans of the Hartford, Connecticut neighborhood where the homeless come to congregate and get good home-cooked meals and professional haircuts from not social service programs, but normal everyday people who want to help in their community.

Anthony Cymerys also known as Joe the Barber, has been providing haircuts to the homeless since 1988 for the price of a hug.  

Right after the 82-year-old barber retired, he heard a sermon that helped him to see his life through the eyes of service and he didn’t want to see the homeless to look homeless anymore. According to Oddity Central:

“In the beginning, he helped people in shelters and convalescent homes, then he cut hair in downtown YMCA for years, before moving to the carousel near Bushnell Park. Every Wednesday, the wooden benches on the Elm Street side of the park are packed with homeless people waiting for a relaxing haircut, shave and facial massage…”

The service he provided inspired others and Betty Magee and Ed Galler started making homemade meals for the homeless.

“The first couple of times I came with Joe, so I felt safe,” Magee said. “Then after you’re here a couple of times, you realize it’s fine.”

Read more here and check out the trailer for J.V. Harvey’s “Unsung Hero” below.

-J.C. Brooks

At one time, the suburbs represented a comfy living away from the hustle and bustle of the city that suggested the suburbanites had substantial resources to separate them from others.  Now…not so much.

According to the Huffington Post, the middle class has taken such a blow in this economy that the suburbs is no longer a separation from the city, they’re merely an extension of it.  The Brookings Institution, produced a report that shows “the suburban poverty rate in America has climbed by 64 percent over the past decade, more than twice as fast as the poverty rate in urban areas.”

It seems unbelievable, but nearly 16.5 million people are living in poverty in the suburbs in comparison with the inner cities that level off at 13 million.  Elizabeth Kneebone, an author of Confronting Suburban Poverty in America, reports that ever suburb in America has seen increase in poverty.  She attributes the rise to two major components among others.

“Suburbs are increasingly home to new immigrant populations, either because they have communities there or networks there or they’re following affordable housing opportunities or jobs,” she said. “In tight housing markets, where city housing has become so expensive, people have been looking for more affordable options further out.”

Wow! Who would’ve thought they would be looking for affordable housing in the suburbs.  Kneebone also discusses the role of gentrification projects throughout urban centers as being a major component.

Read more here.

-J.C. Brooks

We will understand if you have to text while you read this because now we know that is the norm.

Two new studies suggest that because we are so distracted by our iPads, laptops, cell phones, and other gadgets we’re losing brain power.  The distraction of a ping, bleep, or fancy ringtone has caused people to score 20 percent lower on a standard cognition test.  The second study showed that some of the most disciplined students, couldn’t go two minutes “without distracting themselves by using social media or writing an email”, according to MSNBC.

Many professors have given valuable advice to their students about multi-tasking.  If you’re juggling too many balls in the air it is a near certainty that all things will suffer and none of your projects will   Many should already be aware that mixing mental actions with mental actions is not going to work out. But you can usually mix physical skills with mental ability and be successful.

The report gives a great example.

“If you are good at folding laundry, you can probably fold laundry and watch TV at the same time…”

For the first study, Alessandro Acquisti and Eyal Peer at Carnegie Mellon University’s Human Computer Interaction lab put together distractions for a control group of 136 college students as they took a standard test of cognitive abilities.  Those that were interrupted answered correctly 20 percent less than those who weren’t.

The second study was conducted by Larry Rosen, a professor at California State University-Dominguez Hills, and he used a group of 263 students that were followed into their normal study environments.  But even while knowing they were watched, at the two-minute mark, they were back to texting, e-mailing, or some other distraction. The research showed that only 65 percent of the time was used on schoolwork.

Read more here…after you return that text.

-J.C. Brooks

Writer for NewsOne, Kirsten West Savali exposed racist ad for Uni-ball called “Bust You Out” and company has agreed to drop the ad and apologizes.

First Pepsi, now another company has fallen into the, obviously, tempting world of racist ads.

Uni-ball, known for their gel ink pens, thought it would be cute to take a punch at black prison inmates and their pen pal “homies” back home.  The commercial for their pen makes little to no sense as they poke fun at the slang typed in Edwardian Script that, according to Uni-ball, calls for a British accent because it isn’t written using their pen.

Kirsten West Savali reported the ad for News One and the company tweeted an apology to her and assured her that they had nothing to do with the ad and it would be taken down. But while they claim no culpability in this fiasco, Savali posted the credits for the ad:

Creative Ad Agency: TBWA
Client: Uniball Pens
Executive Creative Directors: Matthew Brink, Adam Livesey
Art Director: Jade Manning, Sacha Traest
Copywriter: Vincent Osmond
Production: Sandra Gomes
Account Manager: Morgan Wanckel, Niki Cinnamon, Claire Peters
Production Company: Frieze Films
Director: Rob Malpage
DOP: Rob Malpage
Sound: Sterling Sound, RobRoy Music.

Read her letter to the company here and check out the ad below.  Kudos to you, Savali!

-J.C. Brooks